Fremont: Bacon and Chan leading in race for two City Council seats

FREMONT -- With most votes counted, a newcomer and an incumbent were leading the race to fill two Fremont City Council seats.

Vinnie Bacon, an Oakland law firm's chief technology officer, was leading with 25.5 percent of the vote, while Councilwoman Sue Chan was second with 23 percent.

The top two vote-getters win the election.

John J. Dutra, co-owner of a land-development company, was third with 18.27 percent of the vote; and former Fremont police Officer Rick Jones narrowly trailed with 18.21 percent.

Rakesh Sharma, a retired medical research scientist, was fifth with 11.5 percent; and Mark Wadley, a surgical technologist, was running last with nearly 3.8 percent of the vote.

Chan, first elected to the council in 2008, is trying to retain her seat. The race's five newcomers are vying either to capture Chan's seat or the one vacated by Councilman Dominic Dutra, who chose not to run.

Fremont is attempting to bolster its tax revenue coffers by developing a pair of ambitious transit-oriented plans. Some candidates have favored the 110-acre project in the city center, while others preferred to focus on an 850-acre parcel situated five miles south, around the Warm Springs BART station scheduled to open in 2015.